{"id":698993,"date":"2026-05-28T08:52:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T08:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/698993\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T08:52:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T08:52:18","slug":"kyle-buschs-final-texts-to-dale-earnhardt-jr-before-death-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/698993\/","title":{"rendered":"Kyle Busch&#8217;s final texts to Dale Earnhardt Jr. before death revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Dale Earnhardt Jr. revealed his final text messages with late NASCAR star Kyle Busch.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The conversation took place the day <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/05\/27\/sports\/the-tragic-chain-of-events-that-led-to-kyle-buschs-death-at-41\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">before Busch\u2019s death<\/a> and focused on the CARS Tour scheduled for May 30. According to Earnhardt, Busch was going to help fix the late-model car that he was going to drive in that race.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was texting with him the day before he passed away about getting together this Thursday to bring his seat for his late model over to my shop,\u201d Earnhardt Jr. explained. He\u2019s texting me, and he\u2019s like, \u2018What scheme we going to run?\u2019 And I was like, \u2018You can run any scheme you want. I was like, \u2018What number do you want to run?\u2019 He goes \u2026 he said it, literally, \u2018The Dale Jr. 8.\u2019 I was like, \u2018You got it.&#8217;\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39504580\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dale-earnhardt-jr-driver-88-23798869.jpg\" alt=\"Dale Earnhardt Jr. speaking to media with an ESPN microphone.\" class=\"wp-image-39504580\"  \/>Dale Earnhardt Jr. at the Daytona 500 in 2017. Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>The number is very meaningful for Earnhardt Jr., who raced under it from 1999 to 2007. While racing under that number, Earnhardt Jr. earned 17 Cup Series victories and a career-best third-place finish in the 2003 Winston Cup Series.<\/p>\n<p>Busch unexpectedly died on May 21 at the age of 41. Busch had bacterial pneumonia days to weeks before his death, which progressed to sepsis, according to a death certificate\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.usmagazine.com\/sports\/news\/kyle-busch-suffered-dramatic-chain-of-events-before-death\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">obtained by Us Weekly<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39506186\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/nascar-two-time-cup-series-128452373.jpg\" alt=\"Kyle Busch, driver of the #8 Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet, waves to fans during intros at the NASCAR Cup Series Coke Zero Sugar 400.\" class=\"wp-image-39506186\"  \/>Kyle Busch, driver of the Cheddar\u2019s Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet, waves to fans as he walks onstage during driver intros prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway on August 24, 2024 in Daytona Beach, Florida.  Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Many fellow racers were devastated by the news, as many looked up to Busch. On the racetrack, Busch embraced a sort of villain archetype and even took up the nickname \u201cRowdy.\u201d He had many rivalries with other racers, which kept the audience engaged and waiting for more.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But what touched Earnhardt Jr. was having the opportunity to know Busch off the racetrack.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI knew him on a personal level,\u201d Earnhardt said. \u201cBut hearing how he interacted and how he was to others, the joke they may have shared in a text \u2026 I\u2019ve really enjoyed learning who he was away from the track and how he interacted and engaged, or treated or talked to other people, and it\u2019s been good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Busch will be remembered for his countless victories on the NASCAR track. But the stories shared by racers like Earnhardt Jr. and others show fans who Busch was outside the spotlight.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dale Earnhardt Jr. revealed his final text messages with late NASCAR star Kyle Busch.\u00a0 The conversation took place&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":698994,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,14056,8661,634,82],"class_list":["post-698993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-dale-earnhardt-jr","tag-kyle-busch","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=698993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/698994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=698993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=698993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=698993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}